Both military and civilian police and security personnel can encounter situations in which it is desirable to remotely inspect or handle dangerous or potentially dangerous items. For example, it may be desirable to inspect items not in plain view, covered by a tarp or bag for example, to determine what the item is and whether the item poses any danger to persons or property nearby. In cases where a dangerous item has been discovered, such as an explosive device, it is beneficial to remotely disable or disarm the item. For example, a package adjacent to a road may be discovered and suspected to be a roadside bomb. A remotely operated robot may be used to view and potentially disable the bomb.
Such robots generally include an arm that has a gripper assembly and a camera. An operator located a safe distance away operates the robot using a video feed from the camera to inspect the item, and using the gripper to move or otherwise access the item. In many cases the arm, as mentioned, has a gripper that may be used to grasp and rotate an object. In some situations, the gripper may hold another tool that may be useful in a particular situation, such as a probe for probing soil that may be used to cover a control line that could be used to detonate an explosive device. When using such a tool, the gripper is generally not available for other tasks, as it has to hold the tool of interest. Furthermore, in many cases the tool is not held in a manner by the gripper to as to allow the operator to have a good view of the tool through the video feed from the camera.